Summary
This Report from the National Audit Office
'Identity
and Passport Service: Introduction of ePassports' (HC 152) examines the
Identity and Passport Service's project to introduce ePassports. An ePassport
contains an electronic chip and antenna, to store and transmit the passport
holder's digital photograph and biographical information to an electronic
reader. The chip also contains an electronic signature confirming the issuing
country and the integrity of the data to provide extra checks at border
control.
The set-up costs for the project were budgeted as £63m, and
production costs from 2005-06 to 2010-11 are estimated to be £195m.
In
addition, the Report finds that, while British ePassports are designed to last
ten years, the electronic chips used have a warranty extending only two years.
Although the chip has been laboratory tested, the NAO raises concerns that the
chip's ability to withstand normal usage for the full ten-year passport
lifespan is unproven.
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office,
said "the full security benefits of ePassports will not be realised until UK
border control readers are fully upgraded, and it is only then that we will
know the impact of this new technology on travellers."
The NAO
recommends that the passport service negotiate a longer service warranty with
the manufacturer and highlights the fact that longer-term risks to 'value for
money' remain due to the technical novelty of ePassports, and the risk of
organisational knowledge loss and potential problems using electronic readers
at border control.
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How does it affect
me?
It is reported that around four million ePassports have already
been issued by the Identity and Passport Service: if you have received an
ePassport, this affects you.
Read more about
ePassports.
Find out more about the Identity and Passport
Service.
Learn more about
the work of the NAO.
